Speed--Tunnel; Derail Operation

[John Swindler]

Use to have the Sunday running times memorized, but then again, we were all 
a lot younger then!

Back in early 60s, with Sunday half-hour headway, cars would meet about Bon 
Air siding, and it seems that 11 minutes were scheduled South Hills Jct. to 
Grant & Liberty.  Library running time was 41 min. and 37 min. for Drake.  
For a second meet, outbound car would have to wait couple min. at Washington 
Jct. for inbound car.  And many PRC motormen would wait at Washington Jct. 
for inbound on Sundays in event their were any (Library-Drake) transfers.

Also recall looking at vehicle requirements and running times in early 70s, 
and noting that 1/3 of the fleet was sitting in traffic in the Golden 
Triangle during rush hours.  That represented a lot of your tax money being 
wasted because many cars were only making one rush hour trip.

Today, it's 9 min. South Hills Jct. to Gateway Center but 49 min. for 
Library.

John S.




>From: Fred Schneider <fschneider at dli.state.pa.us>
>Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>Subject: RE: Speed--Tunnel; Derail Operation
>Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 11:23:46 -0500
>
>Seems to me that it took in the neighborhood of 30 minutes from South
>Hills Junction through the city and back out.  While the traffic lights
>and general congestion did consume a lot of time, I'm inclined to agree
>with John that at least 6 to 8 minutes of the total was between the
>north bank of the river and the south end of the tunnel.  My earlier
>guess of 100 seconds was based on car balancing speed up hill ...  my
>memory of balancing speed ... I was thinking in terms of 25 mph but it
>might be closer to 20 mph on a 6 percent up hill gradient ... that works
>out to 29 feet per second.  Inbound was probably slower unless you had
>an idiot for a motorman, and there were a few of them around.  The other
>issue is that rail cars always tend to be noisy, particularly in
>confined spaces, and tend to make one think they are going a lot faster
>than they really are.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: John Swindler [mailto:j_swindler at hotmail.com]
>Sent: Friday, December 10, 1999 9:31 AM
>To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>Subject: Re: Speed--Tunnel; Derail Operation
>
>
>In reply to Jim Holland's questions:
>
>as with traffic on a freeway, excess vehicle speeds tend to be self
>regulating during rush hours.  It's the mid-day, evening and weekend
>cars
>that would be easier to check.  Besides, don't think it was random
>anyway -
>supervisors knew who to watch.
>
>Don't remember whether it was an operator or John Baxter who told me
>time
>required to run through tunnel, but 2 1/4 minutes comes to mind.  And
>that
>it was less then a minute to cross the Smithfield St. Bridge.
>
>As for derail signal, center was red, but impression is that upper
>signal
>was white.  Would feel more comfortable if someone could check an old
>operator's manual rather then trying to rely on memory from 30+ years
>ago.
>
>John S.
>
> >From: Jim Holland <pghpcc at pacbell.net>
> >Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >Subject: Speed--Tunnel;  Derail  Operation
> >Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 00:37:05 -0800
> >
> >Greetings!
> >
> >John Swindler wrote:
> >
> > > At the risk of again trying to rely on a questionable memory,
>vaguely
> >recall
> > > small metal plate suspended from the trolley span wire at the south
>end
> >of
> > > the tunnel with a number punched out that would tell the motorman
>how
> >much
> > > time to take going inbound through the tunnel.  That's how speed was
> > > controlled.  Supervisor could stand on porch in front of his office
>in
> > > administration building and time cars going inbound through the
>tunnel
> >(and
> > > write up those who didn't take enough time).
> >
> >	From what you are saying this was a fixed plate and number.
>Must have
> >been extremely difficult for the super to keep track of each individual
> >car during rush hours!  While it is possible to see the end, it would
>be
> >easy to get cars confused.
> >	We had similar time limit inbound thru Twin Peaks in SF from
>Forest
> >Hill to Eureka Station.
> >
> > > As for derails, . . . It was a positive action, delayed
> > > throw switch.  Motorman had to apply power to throw switch, then
>apply
> >brake
> > > because of delayed action.  Again, simple but elegant solution.
> > > Signal light had three positions.  Normal red light in center, then
>when
> > > derail switch activated, upper light would show, then when switch
> >physically
> > > moved, lower green light would show.
> >
> >	THANKS for this information!  Can we stretch your memory to
>remember
> >the color of the top light???!!!
> >	Think is was strictly against the rules for the motorman to use
>the
> >power pedal to set the switch in Pgh. - they were required to use the
> >control panel switch.  But here in SF using the power pedal was the
> >preferred method (most of the track switch toggles didn't work nohow!!!
> >
> >James B. Holland
> >------- -- ---------
> >         Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June of
>1953
> >     To e-mail *off-list,* please click here: mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
> >N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/
>
>______________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com